“Isn’t rejecting joy how one traditionally demonstrates one’s superior cool?”
hodgman: Did I ever tell you people how much I hate the word “meh”? Nothing announces “I have missed the point” more than that word.
hodgman: It is the essence of blinkered Internet malcontentism. And a rejection of joy. Also: 12 hive mehs in the replies SO FAR
hodgman: By definition, it may mean disinterest (although simple silence would be a more damning and sincere response, in that case)
hodgman: But in use, it almost universally seems to signal: I am just interested enough to make one last joyless, nitpicky swipe and then disappear
wordwill: @hodgman Isn’t rejecting joy how one traditionally demonstrates one’s superior cool? Though, at the same time, to hell with that.
hodgman: @wordwill yes. It’s part of the toxic Internet art of constant callous one upsmanship. And it is a sort of art, but not for me
I love the ideas expressed here by John Hodgman on Twitter yesterday. I especially love @wordwill’s response about “rejecting joy.” Insomuch as there are certain communities I belong to online, I see a lot of cooler-than-thou shitting on what other people think is “cool” and exciting. It gets really, really old and tired for me, and I think that’s why the line hit home.
I wanted to post something about this yesterday, but it wasn’t until I saw it organized this way on Waxy that I saw how to make it readable. For all the stuff on Twitter that does the mental equivalent of “in one ear, out the other,” sometimes you read something that really nails what you’ve been thinking.
